How to Make Red Work in Your Home
With a little bit of knowledge even the meekest of homes can be adorned with a splash of red color to add something new and interesting and fresh to the place. There are many different types of reds - bright and light and dark and rich. These different reds set different moods in a home from happy to sexy to somber.
By choosing the right reds in the right rooms and displaying them in the right way, you can learn to really make a statement with your house without ever looking like you put on too much make-up or the wrong kind of shoes! You just have to be smart about the reds that you dress your home in.
Sometimes it's really the little things that count. For the understated home, a lot of red would be too much to try to work into the decor. However, you can always do something like this where you add a small eye-catching splash of red to an otherwise neutral piece of decoration. It shows that you've got a bold side in you somewhere!
Imagine if this bathtub were bright red instead of this pale pink color. Wouldn't it make you want to luxuriate in the bath all day long? You'd feel like a pinup model! I think red would've been a far better route to go here and I think it can really work in a bathroom that's got unique pieces in it like a clawfoot tub.
Lots of red can work in a child's room if it's part of a bigger picture. In this case, the wall design is a really cool floral design that's got bright red flowers. The lighter colors in the design as well as those colors throughout the room help to calm down the space and make it fun rather than hyperactive.
Red is a really great thing to use when you want to draw a child's attention to something in a room. In this case, we see a red chalkboard near the child's desk so the kid can remember that soccer practice is this day. When using red in children's rooms, you always want to use a bright shade of red. Also, you want to make sure that you use splashes of the color and not big swatches because too much bright red can make kids anxious and hyperactive.
Red in a bedroom could reek of a boudoir setting but it can also be really sensual when it's done right. Here we've got a really simple piece in the headboard but it stands out because of its disproportionate size. Since it's a maroon color instead of a bright red and it's accented with Asian decor, it has a worldly appearance instead of a trashy one.
Kitchens are one of the best places to add red. You want your kitchen to be bright and exciting. Red walls are a great way to make that happen. This works best in a modern kitchen where the rest of the decor is silver, black and white. It can also work in a retro kitchen; think 1950's soda shoppe decor.
You can have a lot of red in a room and not be overwhelmed by it if you choose a subdued shade of red for your decor. Here we can see red in the wall and the curtains as well as a red hue in the striped couch. Despite all of this red, there's nothing overtly bold about the room because the shade chosen here was a darker, duller red that says sophistication more than it says sexy.
One of the best ways to add red to your home is to use it to bring a sexy feeling to an adult area of the house. If you have a living room or lounge area that is designed for adults then you can fill it with sexy red furniture and art to set the mood. When using red in this way, you want to go with dark red and rich touch-me textures.
Red can even be used on the exterior of your home if you don't get too splashy with it. When choosing red for the outside of your home you want to think in the "brick red" family of color even if you're not using actual bricks for the design of the home. Adding a bit of other color, like the yellow we see here, can make a bold exterior statement without looking garish.
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